Title: Co-Conspirators
Characters: Armitage Hux, Kylo Ren
Rating: PG
Warnings: None.
Setting: One day following the final scene of The Last Jedi. On the Supremacy or Finalizer.
Summary: Hux confronts Kylo Ren with the security footage of Ren and Rey from the elevator on the way to Snoke's throne room.
Projections filled most of the room – ships, faces, an invoice bearing the Kuat Shipyards seal, lists of information, several star maps. Hux's brows quirked as he looked around at them in surprise. It looked like Ren was actually trying to do his job.
"All displays off," Kylo Ren commanded. Instantly, the blue glow of the room was gone, leaving Hux standing in the dimness in front of his barely illuminated leader. "What do you want?"
"I want to know if you can alter memories or remove them." There was no 'sir' or 'supreme leader' – just a question. It was both disrespectful and impertinent, about something he had no right to know, but Hux asked it anyway. His life depended on it.
"Why?"
"The First Order, and your command of it, depends on it." But not in the way Hux expected Ren to interpret it.
"Why?" Ren looked annoyed with him now, as Hux would expect of someone with the man's temper.
"There was security footage of your conversation with Scavenger Rey in the elevator on the way to the throne room."
Ren leaned back slightly as he drew in a deep breath. Hux wished it was bright enough in here for him to see the details of Ren's expression. "Kill them. Whoever saw it."
"You cannot alter their memories or remove them?" Hux assumed not, but he'd really like to know.
"Remove the person. Space them if you have to. No, never mind. I'll do it myself. Who are they?"
Hux reached into his belt and pulled out a small data card. He set it on the desk in front of Ren, letting his fingers rest on it as he said, "This is the only copy." He straightened, leaving it there. Of course, he still had the original, but there was no need to mention that. Technically, his statement was true.
Kylo picked it up. "But it has been seen." He looked at Hux for confirmation.
"Obviously." A long, tense moment passed, as the fact that Hux wasn't disclosing who had seen this hung in the air. It was defiance and a threat and Hux wanted to know what Ren would do if he was threatened like this. He needed to know if Ren's hysteria and violence during the Battle of Crait was a response to the extremes of the situation, or if it was going to be normal behavior. Hux would rather not be alive if Ren couldn't control himself better.
But there was only silence, and Ren staring at him with something like loathing. Hux finally said, rather softly, "Only one person has seen it." This much was true so far. Quite a few people would see it if Hux didn't come back from this meeting. "You will have to forgive me my insubordination," Kylo leaned forward, tension coiling in his frame at Hux overtly denying him, "or kill me yourself … Supreme Leader."
"Only you?" The loathing was gone, replaced by something that looked like thoughtfulness, but the room was dim and Hux couldn't be sure if he was only seeing what he'd hoped to see.
"Only me. And if you cannot change my memory of it, then …" Hux raised his brows slightly and tilted his head. Kylo smashed the small chip in his hand. After a moment, Hux pulled out a second data card. Kylo's eyes went to it immediately, as though Hux had drawn a blaster on him. "I have drafted the necessary report to the High Command of what has happened. If you could assist me by offering your revisions," Hux extended it to him and Kylo took it, "as quickly as you can, we can get ahead of any rumors or speculation."
"We?" Kylo looked at the data card in his hand, holding it more carefully than the other. He looked up at Hux with a moment of confused concern.
"I am no stranger to removing a commanding officer who is a danger to the Order as a whole, or me, specifically. With Snoke, it was impossible for me to accomplish. I understand what you did. I would prefer not to have to do the same." A tiny smile twitched over Hux's lips. "It's a lot of hassle. So yes. 'We'." He gestured at the data card. "Would you like to go over it now, together? It's always important to have one's story straight."